Knitted hosiery



Nov. 3, 1959 c. N. HERBERT TAL 2,910,852

KNITTED HOSIERY Filed June 3, 1957 2 Sheets-$heet 1 United States PatentO KNITTED HOSIERY Charles N. Herbert, Narberth, and Theodore W. Herbert,Paoli, Pa.

Application June s, l1957, senat N6. 663,260 z claims. (ci. 6618o Thepresent invention relates generally to the art of knitting and moreparticularly to improvements in the ornamentation of knitted articlesVof apparel, such as hosiery and the like, whereby design configurationswhich simulate cable stitching are incorporated therein.

A popular type of distinctive and appealing ornamentation for mittens,gloves, scarves, sweaters, hosiery, and the like is so-called cablestitching, but heretofore this type of ornamentation could only beproduced practically by hand knitting. Of necessity, such production isboth slow and expensive.

Accordingly, the present invention provides for the expeditious andinexpensive commercial production of mock cable stitch ornamentedknitted articles of manufacture by machine, wherein the design areas areembossed and are distinctive in appearance.

It is an object of the invention to provide hosiery or the like havingspaced walewise extending ridges or rolls of fabric joined together atspaced points to form mock cable ornamentation' therefor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide hosiery or the likehaving a plurality of spaced wrap yarn plated panels of adjoining walesto provide raised fabric panels which are secured together at spacedpoints to form mock cable ornamentation for the hosiery. The spacedpanels are separated by at least one intervening panel of wales whichmay `remain unplated for one design effect and which may also be warpyarn plated for other design effects, in the mock cableornamentation.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide hosiery or thelike having the structure above set forth and in which the spaced wrapplated panels may be joined together outwardly of the general hosefabric to embodying the present invention with the mock cable designincorporated in the side portions thereof;

Figure 2 is a-side View of a portion of the hosiery fabric showing thesame inits original knitted condition preparatory to producing thefinished articleshown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is a front view of a portion of the leg of the hosiery shown inFigure l, as viewed along the lines 3-3` of Figure l, showing theembossed or raised mock cable stitch formation on both sides of the leg;

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the hosiery leg as takenalong the lines 4-4 of Figures l and 2, as well as along the line 4-4 ofFigure 7, the stitches being diagrammatically illustrated;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 taken along the fabric showingthe same in its original knitted condition preparatory to producing thefinished article shown in Figure 6;

Figure 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the hosiery leg takenalong the line 8-8 of Figure 6, the stitches being diagrammaticallyillustrated;

Figure 9 is a View similar to Figure 8, taken along the line 9-9 ofFigure 6, at a point where the raised spaced wales are joined together;

` Figure l0 is a view similar to Figure 9, showing a modied form of themock cable construction;

Figure ll is a view similar to Figure 4, showing a modified formthereof; and

Figure l2 is a View similar to Figure 4, showing a second modified formthereof.

The article of hosiery illustrated in the drawings is of the seamlesscircular knit construction, as produced upon circular knitted machinerycapable of forming a plurality of generally similar wrap yarn platedpanels of fabric, each of said panels containing a plurality of wales.Each wrap yarn is plated on the body yarn on a number of needles,generally during eaclrcourse of knitting and extends as a coursewise oatat the rear face of the fabric from course to course. The effect of suchwrap yarn plating action and associated short floats is to cause theplated fabric wales to project outwardly from the front face of thefabric to form a walewise extending raised panel or ridge of fabric.

` In Figure l,`the article of hosiery, designated generally by thereference numeral 20, is of normal configuration having the usual top,leg, and foot portions, of which the leg portion 22E is ornamented witha mock cable stitch construction as indicated by the reference numeral22. While the ornamentation 22 is shown centrally disposed on each sideof the leg, it will be understood that more than a single mock cablestitch arrangement v22 may be Vplaced upon each side of the stocking andthat their walewise extent may vary, even extending into the instep andfoot portion of the hose, if so desired.

The leg fabric 2l of the hose 2t) is shown in Figure 2 as it comes fromthe` machine, and is provided with a spaced pair or" generally similarwrap plated raised panels 23 and 24 extending walewise ofthe fabric anddisposed centrally on each side of the leg. The panels may be of solidcolors or may have color changes therein, and the colors may be the sameas or in contrast with the body yarn color. In the present instance aplurality of cornplementary color changes are preferably made in theplating yarns at uniformly spaced points in each of the panels, so as toprovide each panel with alternating walewise extending sections 25 and2.6 formed of yarns of respectively different color or structure. Thus,as shown in Figures l and 2, the walewise spaced sections 25 of thepanel 23 are respectively disposed inlaterally disposed registry withthe correspondingly spaced contrasting sections 26 of the panel 24.

As is also shown in Figures l and 2, the panels 23 and 24 are spacedapart coursewise of the knitted fabric to provide an interveningunplated panel 27 formed of body` yarn stitches only, which interveningpanel may be formed of any desired number of wales to vary its width ias desired.

line 5-5 of Figure l, at a point where the raised spaced Figure`7 is aside view off a portion of the hosiery An enlarged cross section of theleg portion 21 is diagrammatically shown in Figure 4, wherein the bodyyarn stitches are indicated at 28, the wrap yarn plated stitches of thepanels at 29, and the floats of the wrap yarns at 30. There is acoursewise oat 30 on the inside of the leg to the rear of each panel foreach course of wrap plating knitting. While the wrap yarns may be platedover any'desired number of wales, whichnumber may yary from course tocourse, in the embodiment of Figure l'jthe wrap yarns are plated on thesame three wales Vof wrap yarns individual to each of these wales.

throughout the leg portion 21, and similarly, three wales are leftunplated in the panel 27.

The panels 23 and 24 are thereafter joined together, laterally orcoursewise, by any suitable means, preferably in face to face relation,at walewise spaced points, such as 31 (Figure l), where the plated yarnchanges in color structure occur, to provide the mock cable constructionfor the article of hosiery. ln the embodiment of Figure 5, the panels 23and 24 are secured together upon the outer' side of thehosiery fabric sothat the oats 30 and the body stitches 28 of one panel 23 are in face toface contacting relation with those of the adjoining panel 24, thepanels 23 and 24 being joined by machine or hand thread tacking 32. Theplain intermediate panel 27 is thus forced outwardly from the panels23-24, in the immediate regions of the racking points 31, as appears inFigure 3, while the intervening unsecured portlons of 'che panel 27remain generally in the same plane as the other unplated portions of theleg fabric, as in Figure 4.

It is within the scope of the present invention to secure the panels 23and 24 upon the inside of the hosiery fabric, as appears in Fig. 10,wherein, at the joining points 31, the plated stitches 29 of the twopanels 23-24 are in face to face contacting relation. This will forcethe panel 27, at the joining points 31, to project inwardly of the hose,in which casethe intervening unsecured portions of the panel 27 will bedisposed in a plane spaced inwardly from the plane of the other unplatedportions of the leg fabric, as will be more fully described inconnection with the embodiment of Figure 6.

While the central panel 27 has heretofore been described as being formedof unplated body yarn stitches, it is within the scope of the inventionto provide that any one or more of the wales thereof may be plated withwrap yarns. As shown in Figure ll, the body yarn stitches 28 forming thecentral Wale or wales of each central panel 27 are plated with wrap yarnstitches 33 As shown in Figure l2, all the wales of each of the centralpanels 27 may be wrap yarn plated, similarly to the formation of thepanels 23 and 24, to provide plated stitches 34 on body yarn stitches 28and the coursewise contacting floats 35. In this event the panels 23, 24and 27 are similarly formed in juxtaposition on each side of the hose toprovide three raised panels or ridges which may be joined together asdescribed in connection with Figures 5 and l0. The resulting mock cableconstructions are generally the same as heretofore described with theexception that the central panel 27, being wrap yarn plated and raised,assumes a more prominent appearance in the overall mock cable effect.

LOnce the panels 23 and 24 of the constructions heretofore described'arejoined or tacked together at the wale- -wise spaced points 31, theseveral walewise spaced sections 25 of the panel 23 merge with those ofthe panel 24 while the sections 26 of the panel 23 merge with those ofthe panel 24 to provide what appears to be a cross-over relation of thetwo raised wrapy yarn plated panels in simulation of cable stitching.Thus, as` appears in Figure l, the sections 25 of the panels 23 and 24appear as a continuous stripe extending simuously along the length ofthe hose and in alternating crossed relation with respect to whatsimilarly appears as a continuously extending simuous stripe formed ofthe sections 26 of the panels 23 and 24. l

Another form of the invention provides an article of hosiery having theleg portions 36 shown in Figure 6, ornamented with a mock cableconstruction 37, the eX- tent and the placing of which may be similar tothat described in connection with Figure l. The fabric appears in Figure7 as it comes from the machine with a pair of raised spacedsectional-formed wrap yarn plated panels 38-39 on each side of anintervening non-raised uplated panel of fabric 40. The panels 38-39,instead of being continuous as in Figure l, are in this instanceinterrupted at spaced courses by a course or two of unplated fabric, asat 41. It will be noted that the wrap plating outline of each section ofthe sectional panels 38-39 is not parallel to the wales throughout, asin Figure 2, but extends at an angle to the wales at the upper and lowerouter portions thereof as shown at 42-42, and is stepped at the upperand lower inward portions thereof, as shown at 43-43. The outline designof each of the wrap sections 38-39 may vary as desired to providevarying individual mock cable ornarnentations.

In cross section along the line 4-4 of Figure 7, the 'leg portion 36will appear generally similar in loop structure to the modificationshown in Figure 4. The panels 38-39 may be formed of yarns of anydesired contrasting color or structure, as explained in connection withkFigure l, o-r they may be otherwise treated to provide for apredetermined pattern or design thereof, the selection of yarns ofdifferent color or structure for the Wrap plated panels being a matterof choice for the designer. i

The panels 38-,39 are also joined together by tacking in face to facerelation at spaced points 44-44, these points being in the immediateregions of the unplated courses 41 of the panels, so that consequentlythere is less bulk lin the joined fabric areas. As shown in the crosssection of Figure 9, the panels 38-39 are secured together upon theinside face of the hosiery fabric with the outer sides of the courses 41in face to face contact and held in position by tacking 45-45. At thesepoints the panel 40 is on the inside of the hose, similarly to theconstruction shown in Figure 10. It will be understood that the panels3839 may be joined together upon the outside face of the hosiery fabric,if so desired, after the manner shown in Figure 5. When the panels 38-39are joined or tacked together at the inside of the hose, the plane ofthe unplated fabric panel 40 is caused to be somewhat depressed relativeto the normal plane of the other unplated fabric areas, as appears inFigure 8, thus adding to the raised elfect of the adjoining panels38-39.

It should be noted that the change in outline of the panels 38-39 at thepoints 42-43 is such as to contribute to the overall design effectcreated when the panels themselves are joined together at points 44above the intervening unplated panel 40. The end tapering of thesections ofthe sectional panels 38-39 blends into the curved shapes ofthe ridges formed by the joining together of the raised panels.

The stitches of at least the ornamented portions of the hosiery of thepresent invention are preferably all plain stitches, as distinguishedfrom rib stitches, and are all drawn in the same direction during theknitting thereof. However, in lieu of plain knitted stitches for thebasic fabric, they may be of any special form, such as mesh, tuck orother fancy stitches known in the art, all of which in the ornamentedareas may be wrap yarn plated in accordance with the present invention.While the central panels of the ornamentation, that is panels 27 and 40,are not shown as being included in the tacking operation, they may be soincluded if desired. f

If desired, instead of forming the raised panels or ridges of fabric bytrue wrap yarn plating of the loops or stitches Within the areas of saidpanels, such loops or stitches may be plated to provide the same generalexternal effect by so-called mock wrap yarn plating, in Which case thewrap yarn does not appear as a float eX- tending across the rear of theplated panel but rather extends as a float between the laterally-spacedplated panels. In the case of such mock wrap yarn plating, the interiorfloats may be trimmed from the fabric, particularly when such floats areof any considerable length. It will be understood that other changes andmodifications of the invention may be made from time to time withoutdeparting from the general principles or real spirit thereof, and it isaccordingly intended to claim the same broadly, as well as specifically,as indicated by the appended claims-v f areas being laterally joined atwalewise spaced gathering 10 2,705,878

points exteriorly of said tubular portion to form a mock cable designfor said hosiery which is characterised by inward projection of theunplated fabric between said raised panel areas at said gatheringpoints.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,427,891 Wirtz Sept. 23, 1947 2,573,118 Thurston Oct. 30, 1951 ThurstonApr. 12, 1955

